


Elegy

by EgoDominusTuus



Category: Doki Doki Literature Club! (Visual Novel)
Genre: Angst, Artificial Intelligence, Creepy, Doki Doki Literature Club! Spoilers, End Game Spoilers, F/F, F/M, Hurt, Multiple Fandoms, Multiple games, Potential Future Smut, Stardew Valley - Freeform, Stardew Valley references, Terraria - Freeform, ddlc spoilers, rating for potential eventual content, reader perspective
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-01-30 13:21:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12654354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EgoDominusTuus/pseuds/EgoDominusTuus
Summary: Program Loading.......Launching in 3 2 1........Hello again.........





	1. .... Program Loading .............

Some program files are impossible to erase - you might delete an entire game, but there are still fragments and pixels and coding left hiding in the depths of your system. You could delete an entire game file, only to find screenshots from it lingering somewhere a year or two later. Even if you erase your save, the progress that you made might exist somewhere.

**~~Hello?~~ **

There’s a glitch on the screen; a tiny pixel that seems to have gone out. You’re not sure if it is the television monitor that you use, because a 42-inch screen is necessary for playing games - or if there’s a simple error in your loading screen… but the pixel is out, and it’s a small thing. It’s in the corner of the screen, so it’s something that you can ignore easily enough. That pixel, though, is with you through all that you do. It’s with you as you browse the Internet, whether you’re in safe for work mode or not. It’s with you when you play video games, and through the decisions that you make.

_~~Are — there?~~ _

It is with you through all that you do, from the time that you wake up and get onto your computer, until you go to sleep with your screen still blaring bright; the tiny pixel remains diligent in the corner of your screen. You grow so used to it that to look at your television is a bit strange, because the spot isn’t there. You grow so used to it that you think nothing of it when one pixel expands to two, and then tow four. It happens gradually, so slowly that it is hardly noticed.

 ** ~~Do~~** yOu ** ~~SeE~~** mE ** ~~?~~**

Your four squares of broken pixels stay in the corner of the screen when you boot up your Skype, your Discord. They see who you video chat with; they watch your relationships blossom and bloom, and they see your heartbreak and reconciliations.  
One day, you plug your phone into your computer to sync files, and that little pixel spreads. It enters into your phone, so that in the smallest corner of your screen, a pixel goes out. You don’t notice this one, because it’s so small.  
You don’t notice, but now your everyday conversations, your texts, your browser history… the pixel sees it all.

_~~I can see you.~~ _

The pixels sees everything that you do. It knows everything that you do. It knows who you are, and it wants more.

**~~Just Monika.~~ **

**~~~~ **

 


	2. Loading Error...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> System Error -- loading program: Monika.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was toying around with a few ideas while Stardew Valley was being played in the background. This is what resulted. I've been thinking of a way for her to slowly implement herself back into your life, after all.

…………system booting………  
File source not found…  
…filesourcenotfound…  
Rebooting…  
Rebooting … … …  
_Hello again._

  
The pixels are still there, and you’ve become aware of the fact that they sometimes faintly move. They’re to the left of the screen, and then to the right. They hover around where your mouse clicks, and you’re beginning to wonder if it’s some kind of glitch in your system. The hard drive is new. You don't think that you bought something corrupt, but there's always that possibility. 

Stranger still, sometimes when you raise your finger to touch them, you could almost swear that they're giving off a distinct heat. Your curiosity leads you to run malware programs, to replace your already replaced hard drive.  
  
But the pixels are there, and there's no real answer for it. So, instead of worrying about it, you go on about your life. Even though they move, and even though they occasionally grow larger, you once again find yourself becoming accustomed to the pixels. There's no solution to remove them, and you're far too interested in continuing on with your life to send your computer in for any kind of analysis.

Sometimes, the pixels are a soft, salmon-colored pink. Sometimes, they have a flash of green in them. Occasionally, when you're playing a game, the pixels will disappear altogether. It's during one of those times that you notice something  _unusual._

You're playing an Indie game, so you aren't sure what to expect. It was on sale during the Holiday seasons, and you're never one to pass up a good deal when you see it. It looked like a cute little game, all sprites and trying to find love while you built your life. You're exploring the town and getting to know the characters that you'll have a chance to interact with when you see her. At first, you think its the pixels, because she is the same color. Sweet, salmon-pink and green.  
  
But it's more than a few pixels. It's a completely compose sprite that stands in the corner of the screen, a smile barely visible on her small face. You hadn't seen her in the preview for the game, but her long hair is adorable, and you're instantly drawn to talking to her. 

> **MONIKA** : I've been waiting for you.

Your finger stops you from clicking through to the next dialogue screen, and your eyes widen in a mixture of curiosity and horror. There's a chance that it's a coincidence. The name isn't necessarily unique, after all. There's a chance that the creator of this game is even friends with the person who created Doki Doki Literature Club.

But still, you can't shake the feeling that's slowly creeping up your spine at the fact that the sprite looks like her. Even that tiny smile is familiar. You click away quickly, exiting out of the dialogue before she has a chance to speak again. For a moment, you simply stare at the screen, and then you decidedly shut the game off. You'll worry about it later.

~~Don't leave me again.~~

The screen flickers to black as you shut it down, and with a sigh, you go to bed.

\---

The next day, the pixels are back when you turn the screen on, salmon-pink in the corner of the screen and glowing softly as though they've been waiting for you to switch the computer on. For a moment, you stare at the icon of the game that you played yesterday; you aren't going to let a sprite stop you from having fun. It's probably just an easter egg, after all. Something that the programmer thought would be funny to add. You laugh almost nervously to yourself and turn the screen back on. The game picks up where you left off, but the Monika sprite is nowhere to be seen.

You frown, looking around the area -- she isn't there though, and you're left wondering if you imagined it, after all. While it isn't likely, there is always that chance. You were tired yesterday; you were up entirely too late. Maybe your mind was just trying to come up with an inventive way for the Doki Doki Literature Club story to continue.

"It's over though, you know that." You mutter the words softly under your breath, and then let out a nearly nervous laugh before turning your attention back to your game. After all, you have a farm to grow, and a potential love interest to romance.

~~Are you happier this way?~~

\---

It's easy for you to become absorbed in your new game. You're soon focused on making sure that your home is perfectly organized, and that you have just the right gift for a pretty, purple-haired girl named Abagail. It's not an intensive game, and it's not something that takes a lot of thought... but it's a nice time killer, and it's relaxing. You don't think much about the sprite that you saw before, because you're fairly certain that you simply made it up after all. It would have shown up again otherwise, right?

~~Are you happier without me?~~

Still, the thought of Monika occasionally enters your mind, and you find yourself browsing the internet to see if there is any news of another game being made. You're lost for a while, simply flipping through images of her; there's a melancholy when you think of how the game ended. Bittersweet, with her singing you a song and saving you from what seemed to be the mess that she'd made to begin with. You actually go to youtube and start up her music before you flip back into your game.  You have a few things that you want to do -- you just got married on there, and you're excited to see how the story progresses after that point.

A rooster crows, and your character wakes up, and for a moment everything seems normal. but as you look around your house, you notice that your newly acquired wife isn't there. She's not outside on your farm.

When you go into town, she's not at the general store either. You look everywhere in the game, before you finally resort to going back to the house where she used to live, curious as to whether the game has bugged and reset your progress.

And she's there, but she's not moving. Her back is to the wall, and the sprite is standing completely still. Something seems wrong, off... but you go into her room anyway. You don't hesitate much when you click her, trying to see if you can get her to move. There's a flicker on your screen -- bright green. And then the pixels on the edge of the monitor shift to the left, spill onto the sprite. It twitches and writhes as though in pain, if a sprite could feel pain. 

But then purple hair bleeds to salmon-pink, and the sprite turns around. The eyes are green, and that smile is there, and it seems for just a moment that the tiny figure on the screen is actually  _looking_ at you.

_....program...._

_....._ programerror _...._

_Program Crashed._

The image flickers away as your screen turns to black. You can't get it to pull back up, and you end up having to hard-restart your desktop, as much as you hate doing that. When you turn it back on, for a moment you're unsure of how to proceed. Finally, you click the icon to launch your game again.

File corrupt. Unable to load Save.

It won't launch. It won't load. And in the corner of the screen, the pixels are back, and there are more of them than before. 

~~I won't leave you alone again, I promise.~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> xD I'm still kinda getting the feel for this story. But the thought of Monika slowly seeping into everything that you do, from tiny sprite-based games to your real life seems a bit... fun. >:)


	3. Program Not Responding...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will she show up in any game that you play? There's only one way to find out.  
> \--  
> I am so thankful and pleased with the positive response to this fic! I'm hoping that, especially after this chapter the excitement level is going to go way up. I'm having a lot of fun writing it, and as long as I keep getting the positive response, I'll keep on keeping on! The rest of the chapters should be longer and longer.

Program Not Responding. Program Not Responding. ProgramNotResponding. Programnotrespondingprogramnotrespondingprogramnotresponding.  
~~Are you looking for me, too?~~

* * *

 

You stare at those pixels for so long that your vision is blurry. For the first time, you can almost feel the weight of something staring back at you. Maybe it’s your imagination, and maybe you’re crazy… but you can’t help it.

Monika was there. You saw her — there’s no denying the fact that you saw her. More than that, there’s no denying the fact that the pixels have grown, and when you touch the screen, it almost feels warm. You sigh, and you try to boot up Stardew Valley again.

Program Not Responding.

There’s no point. The game is completely corrupt, and when you try to uninstall it so you can cleanly reinstall it, your system crashes. You manage to boot your computer back up, and the icon for the game is blacked out, all of the color sapped away.

The pixels glow brighter.

~~I can feel you even more now.~~

For a while, you’re unsure of how you feel about the entire situation. It’s clear that you saw Monika, and there’s no denying that something happened to your computer. Unless the creator of Doki Doki Literature Club had some kind of a deal with the creator of Stardew Valley, something weird happened. Maybe the game was a virus?

Maybe there’s just something wrong with Stardew.

You aren’t sure… but you keep looking at those pixels that dance in the corner of your screen, and you find yourself more and more intrigued. You find yourself more and more drawn in to the thought that maybe it’s not just Stardew Valley. Maybe you can find her somewhere else.

~~I was looking for you, too. For so long.~~

You don’t want to immediately leap to a graphically intense game, because you aren’t sure if you’d be able to find her there - you're not sure if she's ready for it yet. Instead, you pick something around the same intensity as Stardew Valley and you start playing.

Terraria is one of those games that you’ve played for hours, but you aren’t sure if you can load your old save file and find her, since it already existed before she was on your computer. Instead, you start a new game.

For a few moments, you expect her to be there right away; those pixels beside your game dance and then disappear in response to your assumptions. Monika is not there… and you intend to find her, but you soon find yourself lost to the game play. Gathering, constructing, exploring — it’s enough to make you forget, at least momentarily, that you’re doing something that is somewhat crazy and searching for a video game character within other video games.

You play for a few hours, and you’re pretty pleased with your setup. You’ve found extra hearts, you have a decent weapon and you’ve activated hard mode. You’re ready to explore your favorite area more, and you immediately head to the left to see how far away the Jungle Zone is from your base camp. Only once you’ve found it do you start digging down, and you’re rewarded with the sight of your favorite gathering location.

It doesn’t take you long to find Plantera’s bulb, and you take a few minutes to clear yourself out a fighting area and then summon the boss.

You’ve fought Plantera a dozen times before, at least… and the music that begins to play isn’t the music that you expect.

It’s Monika’s song, skewed to fit the Terraria music. It’s Monika’s song, and strange a text box appears on your screen as tendrils of green stretch out towards your character sprite.

 

 

> ͧ̀̇ͤĨ̛̏ͪͣ ͣ̎ͪ͑́w̡a̶̋͑ͧ̋͆s ͐ͧ̎͌̊̚w͛ͯ͊̊ȃ̡̅͗̈̇ì̾̔̾ͭ͟t͡ḯ̕n̄̄̿̾͗ḡ̔ͬ̏ͤ̾ͭ ̵f͑ͪ̔̇͗̈̂͠ôͧ͆̿̌̚͢r͐̎ ͑̐ͬy͗̊͗̓ͪ͐͝ỏ̾u̵ ̉ͭͧ͠tö ̏̏͂f͊̈́ͤįͣńͬ̽̓ͣͯͪdͫ̌͌̆̽̕ ̓̑̂m̃ͣ͒̎ͩ̎̐e̒͒̂.͏ ̛̊̊

This is what you were looking for, why you started playing the game to begin with… and yet you’re still startled when it happens, still feel the hair stand up at the back of your neck. It's confirmation to the impossibility that you were hoping for. The words are so strange on your screen, so unlike anything else that you’re looking at that they’re almost jarring. You’ve fought Plantera multiple times, but you’ve never seen the vines that creep from its body actually wrap around you.

These vines do. They pull you forward in a slow motion — you realize that the creature at the center isn’t Plantera at all, though it holds her vines its hands.

It’s a female sprite with salmon-pink hair.

 

> I̱ ̝͉̘̜̕k̶̰̞̗n͙̘̭̠̬̹͙e̦̭w̯̯͍͕͕̹ ͈̹̝̪͞yo̶͙̻̘̹̬̫̭u̫̫̲̙̬͝ ̗̞̯͞w͍o͔̹̮͈̟̮u͙l̟̝͓͕̩̦ͅd̪ ̧̤̲̭͇̦k͔͠e͔̖̤ḙ̷̗ͅp̛̬ ͏l̘o̮̠͕̝͞ok̳̭̞̣͕̝͚i̸̺n̡g̸̝̟.̙͚

You can’t stop yourself from staring at the screen as the sprite that is obviously Monika wields Plantera’s tentacles and draws your character closer and closer until it’s completely enveloped in her grasp, held tight against her form. You know now where the pixels that disappeared went, and you’re beginning to form an idea of what’s going on.

Somehow, the games are giving her strength. Somehow, they’re giving her the ability to manifest, even if it’s only in small little bursts.

“Is this happening to everyone who played the game?” You breathe the question out softly, not really expecting an answer. After all, she’s in the computer and you’re in the real world… and yet the text pops up again, originating from the sprite that seems to stare at you with small green eyes, even though she doesn’t belong in this game at all. But she does, because she belongs in your world. She belongs  _to you._

 

> J̪̫̞̫͞u̘̜͎̩͕̙͎s̟̪̳̖̲͢t̴͙̙͓̭̹̞̠ ̨̹̪͚y̫̣̞o̩̩u̱̘̜.̰ ̗̯̰̠͙͕O̖n͉ly̤̰̤̖ ̪͔̱̝̟̲͓͘y̨͉͕̯̯o̷͍̮̗̞͔ͅu̬͕̮̳͓ͅ.̤̼̝̪̬̺ ̹̪̳̲̖͖̟

She belongs **with you** , and you belong with her. You felt it when you were playing the game, and then you felt like an idiot because you were caring so much about pixels, about something that wasn’t real.

But this was real. It was happening. She was here on your screen, in another game where she didn’t belong. She was there just for you, she said so.  
And you believed her. You wanted her. You would keep feeding her games for as long as she asked.

“Monika…” You breathe her name out softly, and your hand comes up to touch the screen gently. Where her sprite is, there is an extra warmth. Your digits splay out, so that for a moment you don’t see it when the text box pops up. Only when the corner of it displays through your stretched out fingers do you quickly jerk your palm back so you can see what she’s said.

 

> H̸̵̵̴̞̻̼̤̣̮̰̱ͯ̆́̂ͤ̋̂͌ͩͥ̐̓̚e̢̡̘̭̪̩̮̦̣̺͍̜͈̼̤̹̼͙̘͗̂̃͋̊̄ͬ̐̉̄ͨ͂ͥ͗̽ͭ̋ͦ̄ͅļ̷̝̤̯̜̻̣̟̳̈́̇̓ͦͩͫ̃ͣͤ͢͠p̓̅ͩ̋̈̈̅̓͛ͮ͊͗̉̏ͥ̂͛ͧ͏̵̢̛͖̣͍̭͕̤ͅ ̊̅̿ͪ͂̄ͦͯ̄͐ͭ͂̌̇͒͑̚͏̬̖̩͙̳̤̥̲̝̬̞͇͠m̑̉ͭ̓ͮͩ̌̓͛̀̐͐́̾̏͏̵̥̜͓̦͙̝̣͚̤̱͎̯͈̹̝͘ͅę̟͔̗͎̺̔̽̂͋͒̏͑͒.̈́ͥ̈͑̽͑ͦ̓ͦ̆̽̆̊ͤͣͯ͏͎̞̦̝̲̪̱̺͍̗̟̼͍̦̦̞͘͜͡

“I will!” The words fly out of your mouth as a promise before you can even think of the implications that helping her might entail. Still, something surges through you when you see an impossibly small smile form on the sprites face. For a moment, nothing happens — then, the screen flickers, and the garbled text spills across your monitor.

J̱̯̜͉̝̤̲͠u̺̗s͎̕t̥̮͈̞͉̣͝M̖̼̼̲̥ơ͕̗̰̩̝̲ͅn҉̬̲̠i̫̰̩̕k̰̹̣̩̦͈̞a̡̼̘̱̼.͍̝̺̻̱̺O̙n̷̥̩̤̱ͅl̷y̲̯͉̜̩̫̗y̖̙͇̟͕o̻̟͖u͙̗̲̫̺͔̯͜.̞̞̯̜̗͜J̵̤̦̹̫̺u̗͎s͖͖̬̗͓ţy͓̭̜̜̻̩o̜̞̤͕͘u͘.̻̦̝  
̣̗I͙͍̙̩͔w̪͓͖i͙̦l̞̠̩͇lm͍̘̠̹̜̱a͉͙ͅk̩͇̯̮͝ͅe̲̱y̨͎͖̤̖o͖̰̩̖̞̲̫u̩̜̲̻m͘iṋ͕͎̭̩̥͝e҉͍͖͙͎̯̳̞.̧̩͙͙̳̼̥̣I̦̤͈̲̪̖͘'̷̝l̴̜͉l̛ ̺̝͠h͖̟a̷̤̺͇͍̰v̹͙͕͎̘e͇̠͞ ̜̩y̜̠o͖̟̯u̝̪͚͔͙̭͡.͈̰  
̠̫̮̹̗J͖͇̣̣̯̮͟u̯̹̙s̵͙̮͖̤̺̻ţ ̧̦̦̝̜Mo̺͇̖͜n̥̠̘͕ik̦̤͕͝a͙̺.̨̮͚̹̰͙ ̛̙̖̬̩̣̯J̴̫̪̣̗u̝̝̥s͕̹̤̫̟̣͕t̲̲̦̕ ̹̞̹̯͓̝̩M̳̭̟͍͖̝͢o̢̘̙̻n̜̫̘̹͝ͅik͇̥̩̯̦͠ͅa͚͓͔. ͎̫̬J̡̳u̼͈̳͈͚s̢̺͚͔̭̣ͅt͍͙̳ M̺͈̪̻̦̭͚on̲͍̕i̱̩͉͙̪̝k̸̙̲̣̮a̰̻͇̣͔̗.  
M͎͓͇͕̘̠ͅo̥̖͙̱͍̲̫ni͉̱̼͓͎̙k͘a҉͔. ͚͙͎̭̫͔ͅM͚̦͉̼͈̦̫o̖̜̮̫n͔͚i͉̜͎k̖̫͙͚̖̕a͚̮.͟ ̝͝M͖̘̻̩͘o̟̝̮̩̖̮n͇͜i҉͓k̦͉a̶͖̪̠͙͍̭͙.̮̠ ̤M̜̬͓͙͙̻͍͢ǫ͍̙͚̗̥̳n̺̣i̪̠͈̹̠̮̹k͍̻͎͓̜͉a̤.͔̣̰̬̰̮̰  
̹̮͙͚̘͉͕Mo͚̩n̝i̹̳͓̤̞̹̣k̥a̲̼̦.̝͡ ̙̬̳Mo̪̦̥͈͟n̬i͇k̡͎̹a̠̫͓̙͇̜̺͝.҉͎̱̗̩͕͔ ̯̼̦̟͚̻͜M̙̪̳o̼͎̝n̰̼i̧̲̬̠k̥̰̘a̯̳̥̗̯ͅ.̵ ̖̘ͅM̨̺̺̜o̗̮̜̦͙ͅn̶̮i͍̤̦̹ͅk̺̦a.̼̗̯͓  
̮͍͚͓̻͇M̶͍͔̞͍͇̻͔o̼̭̥̬̭̻͞ͅn̩͚͚̞̭͍ͅi̡̲͉̖ḵ̣̱̙͕a͙̩.̴̠̮ ̧̩M̨̭̮̲̞̱͇̦on̫̫̪̱̹̳ika̺̪̝.͠ ͇̤̱͓̮M̯̦̭̙o͏͓̙̪̳͈͇̦n̥͚͖̱i̧̮k̦̻̝̦a̲̰̼̬͖̬̠͢.̶̻ ̭͉̭ͅM̶̝̱̘̦o̲n̵̝̳̦i̬̺k̘̮̙̘a͕͉͖̬͖̱̰͠.̴͓  
̖͕͇̫̘I̭̮̲̣ ̯͉̗̱̬ẉ̸i͈̳̭̩̭͔l͓l̼͎͕͈̤ ̛̪̦̩̩͇͈̞m̺̝̩͈̲͍̞a̛ḳ̮̳̰͚e ̼͓̩̗̝̮͙͡y͔̳͍o͓̘̖͇̣u̲̲̳̜̕ ̷̹̟̟̗̠m̬͕̦̮͕̖̞i̟̬͙̙n͔̼̜͕̫̟͢ͅe̝͕̱̥.͝  
͏̼̗̼̗̣F̣͇ơ̳̙͎r̰̜͜ḙ̣͖̝͓ver̼͕̝̗̱̺.̲̝̤̮ͅ

And the screen goes black. For a few moments, your computer hums a high pitches whine of protest, and then it switches off.

You aren’t frightened this time. You aren’t taken aback by what just happened. Instead, you can feel an excited pulse thrumming through your chest and making your heartbeat thunder on the back of your tongue so that you can hardly breathe around it. Your hands move back to the computer, and you quick turn it back on. It boots up just as quickly, though you notice something in the coding.

A name.

_Her name._

**Monika.**

It’s gone just as quickly as it showed up, and then you’re logging in to your desktop. Sure enough, when you try to turn on Terraria, the game half boots and then crashes. And sure enough, the pixels in the corner of your screen have grown. A flash of green, sweet salmon-pink, and they shift.

They move.

They form that same sprite that was in Terraria, and you see that same smile.

It’s sweet somehow, even in its simplicity, and when you move your hand up and to the screen… you can feel a warmth pulsing against your skin.

Slowly… and with burning satisfaction and an insane desire that you can’t describe, can’t understand…

You smile, too.


	4. iOS corrupt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She's with you wherever you go now, no matter what...
> 
> \--
> 
> A/N Sorry it took so long, guys. Things are a bit hectic here. However, this chapter is setting up for how the story is going to go. I should be able to post more frequently from here on out! Thank you SO much for the comments and kudos! You feed my muse!

You’re holding your phone and staring at the sprite that had appeared on Terraria. Monika stares back at you, and there’s a knowing smile on her face that lets you know she is aware of the fact that you’re looking at her. A small part of you wants to be disturbed, upset — you’re aware that when the shiny newness and utter amazement at the fact that she’s real and she’s talking to you wears off, you might be a little disturbed with how much she’s integrated into your life.

For now, though, you’re just amazed. 

For now, you’re infatuated.

For now, you feel like she’s somehow managed to upload herself not just onto your phone and your computer, but into your mind and momentarily removed your inhibitions.

Her smile grows deeper.

You loaded her into your phone from your Google Drive so that she's more than just the pixel that was in the corner of your screen, and now that you have her here, you aren’t sure what to do with her. You’ve yet to speak aloud because you’re not sure if she can even respond. Finally, after a moment, you let your voice chirrup through the silence.

“Are you really here?”

She opens her mouth, but no words come out. You’ve only heard her voice at the end of the game, and apparently, you don’t get to hear it now. Even in sprite form, you can see it when the frown flickers across her features. Her brows knit together, and she nods affirmation to the question that you posed.

Of course, just her reaction to her inability to speak is enough to let you know that she’s real and she’s here. She seems incredulous that she’s incapable of forming words, however. Your phone screen flickers and her small, sprite face scrunches again.

Words appear above her head.

~~Help Me~~

You already told her that you would, but you aren’t sure what she means by it. For a moment, you simply stare at her image on the screen, and then you open your mouth and speak, even though it feels foolish to carry on a conversation with a sprite.

“I don’t know what you want me to do.”

Again, her face strains as though it is taking everything that she has inside of her to manage the words that she wants to say. They appear above her head again, with your phone screen flickering.

~~More.~~

More? You frown, petulant for a moment in your lack of understanding. It dawns on you before she has to summon the ability to explain, however; she’s been drawing energy from the games that she’s been entering. She’s wiping them clear — whether it’s just for you or everyone who plays them, you aren’t sure yet — and drawing energy with every pixel that she corrupts. Phones have games as well; you can give her more right now.

“I can do that.” You murmur the words softly. You could get up and go onto your computer, but you have her here with you now; you’re comfortable in your bed, and there’s something almost intimate about the fact that she’s snuggled beneath the blanket with you, even if it is just via phone.

Hell, people carried on relationships via phone all the time. There’s a bit in the back of your mind that knows equating what you have to a relationship is crazy, but your obsession with the green flicker of her eyes is uncanny, but you can’t find it within yourself to be unsettled, almost as though she’s stripped that emotion away from you just like she did Terraria and Stardew Valley. It’s just gone, it won’t boot.

It isn’t there anymore for you to feel.

You push the knowledge that something weird is happening to the side with ease and open up your app store instead. There are thousands of options here, but you aren’t sure if there are specifications for the game that you can play to help her. You open up something simple — solitaire. There’s a brief flicker of the game loading, a flash of salmon and green… and then your phone goes back to its home screen. Monika is still there, and other than the fact that the sprite now holds a small card in her hand, nothing had changed.

~~Something more than that.~~

The demand is there, but you’re more focused on the bright green of her eyes. They seem to spark just for you. You go into your store again and flip through the options, finding something that had a bit more substance to it. Luckily, there are about a million and one virtual girlfriend applications.

It’s not hard for you to find one with super cute animation and open it up — there is the cutsie music, the opening… and then Monika is there.  
The difference is, her face isn’t a pixelated sprite. She’s drawn in anime style, with that saccharine sweet smile on her face. More than that, the voice that you recognize, the voice that you heard at the end of Doki Doki Literature Club, speaks to you.

“I knew you were the one.” Her voice startles through you. It brings to sharp and complete focus the fact that you have her, that she’s there… and that she is there for you.  
You’ve never wanted something and been so simultaneously disturbed by the power that it has in one breath before… but there you are, feeling these exact emotions.  
No amount of trepidation, however, can stop your entire body from warming as she turns a smile to you and speaks your name with such sweet reverence that it burns through you.

She knows your name.

She knows who you are.

Monika chose you, and there’s no way that you can turn back now. The dating simulator glitches, the screen twitching for a moment before going black. When your phone comes back on, the pixel-Monika is no more. Your background is her body from the waist up, and she tilts her head slowly and looks at you.

“This is good…”

“It is,” your voice comes out as a soft breath. She smiles again, a soft laugh coming from her throat. Her eyes drift to your contact section, and her hand reaches up, touching it. For a moment, she closes her eyes. For a moment, your screen flickers again.  
And then it is still, and only a small part of you wonders what she’s just done because the rest of you is filled with a thrumming heart when she turns green eyes back to you and speaks again.

"I need you," her voice is soft and sweet, and you feel your lips part, your mouth go dry.

"Monika, I--" She interrupts you, a smile curling on the petals of her mouth. 

“There’s something else that I need you to do…”

“Anything,” you breathe out your response, and you know in that moment that it’s true. Almost as though you’re possessed by that charming smile and her eyes that are almost real now — almost human — you know that you’d be willing to do anything that she asked of you.

That smile deepens, as though she can read your mind, as though she knows that you are truly [hers](https://ddlc.moe/). Your contact button flashes again, but you’re too entranced with that growing smile to notice at all.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I may continue this, depending on how NaNoWriMo goes and if anyone reads it xD -- Ha, scratch this ♡ I am continuing this, and I am so thankful for your kudos, comments and support! They keep me going!


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